Waking up to find Indy standing over me with a fork was a deeply unsettling sight.

She was still there when I got back from my date, taking up my entire bed. She slept like a rock and I gave up trying to wake her up or push her to one side. So I spent the night on the couch.

I didn't mind too much. From where I was, through a slight crack in the curtains, I had the perfect view of where Andre had parked his car. Where I kissed him. Even if it was just on the cheek.

"Talk." Indy demanded, sitting half on the couch, half on my stomach.

I moved out from under her and sat up. "I have to pee."

"You promised to tell me if anything happened with Andre," she said, pointing her fork at me. "And you got home late, missy."

"How would you know? You were sleep." I pushed her hand and the fork away from my face. "And why are you walking around with weapons?"

"I'm making breakfast and was hoping the smell of bacon would wake you up." It was sad that the bacon was what woke me up. "And I know you were late because Lakesha from dance told me she saw you at the café."

Of course she'd have spies. "I have to pee," I repeated, throwing the blankets off me.

Indy followed me down the hall as I went to close myself in the bathroom.

"Was it a repeat of what happened in the closet?" She shouted from the other side of the door.

I yanked it back open. "Are you trying to get me in trouble?"

"Auntie Jailah is at the store getting eggs," she told me. "So, hurry and tell me everything before she gets back."

My bladder screamed at me. "We had fun, ate cupcakes and I kissed him," I said really quickly and shut the door before I peed myself.

The door busted open just as I sat down. "You kissed him?"

"I'm peeing!"

"You kissed him," she said again, that time mostly to herself.

"Only on the cheek," I mumbled.

She held her hands over her heart, pretending to wipe a tear away. "They grew up so fast."

"Out."

She threw her hands up. "Fine. I can take a hint."

"I'm so glad we don't live in the same house!" I said after she closed the door.

After finishing up in the bathroom, I found my mom in the kitchen unpacking groceries. "Morning," she said, putting a carton of milk in the fridge.

"Morning." I grabbed a crispy piece of bacon from a plate by the stove. "Where's Indy?"

"Something about a dance emergency." I wondered if it was that Mariah chick again.

Indy had only finished the bacon, so Mom and I made omelets.

"Did you have fun last night?" she asked, poking the omelet with a spatula.

She had fallen asleep in the armchair waiting for me, her laptop nearly sliding off her lap as she worked on her latest review for her blog. When I woke her, I thought for sure she'd ground me for getting home late. Instead, she just went up to bed.

"Yeah." I glanced at her, looking for any signs of disapproval. When I saw none, I filled her in on the rest: How Andre talked them into playing Kazaam, how bored everyone else was, the cupcakes. I kept the kiss to myself, not sure how she'd react.

"Andre sounds nice," she said, finishing up the second omelet. "If not a little show-y."

I couldn't disagree with that. From the movie to the backpack full of snacks. Andre wasn't one to go halfway.

"So, you're okay with it?" I asked, eating another piece of bacon. "Me dating, I mean?"

She dropped an omelet on my plate and shut off the stove. Then she smiled at me. "It's not like I can stop you."

My stomach twisted. What did she mean by that? She took her breakfast to the table. I took mine to my room, claiming I had homework.

When Nia texted "Incoming" a few hours later, I had no idea what she meant. Until Romeo was in my room. She said something to him. She told him about our conversation last night and now he was there to...to what? I didn't know.

I braced myself. Reminding myself that he was too late. That whatever confession he came to confess was pointless.

"Don't you want to help clean my mom's garage?"

My tense shoulders immediately deflated as I looked up at him from my bed. "Excuse me?"

"Keraun and Nia are in the car," he said, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder. "It'll be over with a lot faster if you helped."

I stared at him for a long while, then sat up on my elbows. "Seriously? You don't talk to me for a week and now you want me to help clean your mom's garage?"

"We talked."

"Barely." The few times we talked, it wasn't with my best friend. Romeo was always laughing or cracking jokes. The person standing in front of me looked like he was sent here against his will.

"If you missed me so much, you could've said so." The smile on his face didn't quite reach his eyes. He turned away, pointing at my feet. "Explain."

I looked down at my socks. One had candy corn, the other had "potato" written on the bottom. I think the match said "couch".

Things were weird between us. I knew I wasn't the only one to feel it. Romeo's usual act of pretending he didn't notice was more annoying than usual. But I played along.

Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I stood. "They're both vegetables."

"Candy corn is not a vegetable."

"It is during October."

Nia and I sat in the backseat of Romeo's car. Keraun always rode shotgun because of his car sickness. I still think Indy secretly hates him for puking on her back in middle school.

Romeo's mom lived almost an hour away in a neighborhood with two-story houses that all looked alike. Bell, she didn't like the formality of last names, was sitting in a plastic lawn chair with a friend of hers when we pulled up. There was a matching table between them, a large umbrella attached.

"Perfect," Bell said, as we all filed out of the car. She hugged each of us, adding a kiss on the cheek for her son. "There's four of you, which means this might actually get done today."

On the way over, Romeo told us she wanted the garage cleared out so she could turn it into her workout space. When she pulled the garage opened, I wondered what exactly had been done the last time Romeo and Rashad were supposed to be cleaning it out.

The garage was stuffed. Boxes stacked on boxes, holiday decorations, creepy looking mannequins. Where did we even start?

Keraun, the more organized of us, took charge, assigning us each a task. I was unlucky enough to get the mannequins and clothes from Bell's attempt at being a stylist. There were so many clothes.

"Feel free to take some of that," she said, catching me eyeing a cute sweater. "Today it's free, but next weekend you'll have to pay."

At the sound of free clothes, Nia joined me, abandoning the Christmas decorations. Soon, Romeo's trunk was full of our finds.

At the bottom of a box of purses, I found a photo album. It was old, the little slots for pictures were falling apart, pictures escaping. I brought the album to Bell, whose face lit up. "Oh, I thought I lost this!"

"Is this you?" Nia asked, holding up a picture of two kids, a boy and a girl, who looked about ten years old.

Bell took the picture, smiling. "Yeah and that big-headed bastard next me is Charles." She tossed the picture on the table like it was trash.

"Wait," Nia said, picking the picture up again. "That's Rome's dad?"

Now that I really looked, I could see it. Romeo looked just like his dad, while Rashad looked like their mom.

"You knew each other as kids?" I asked, tearing my eyes from the picture.

"Yeah," she said, sipping her water with lemon. "Grew up in the same projects. Then he got a little money and wanted a white woman."

Her friend hid a laugh behind her hand. I vaguely remembered Romeo complaining about his new step-mom when I first met him. Clearly, that didn't pan out.

"I need the bathroom," Nia announced, grabbing my wrist. "Show me?"

"I barely know where it is," I told her as she dragged me through the garage and into the house.

She found the bathroom on the first try and dragged me inside with her. "If by 'show me' you meant show you how to use the toilet, I'm not doing that."

"Did you hear what she said?" She shook me with each word.

"Hear what?" I asked, wiggling out of her grasp.

"I know you told me to drop it, but how can you ignore that?"

She was still on about Romeo. "Nia, I'm not doing this."

"Wait, Daya, just hear me out," she said, blocking the door. "His mom and dad were friends when they were kids. Now they can't even be in the same room without their lawyers present."

I crossed my arms across my chest. "So?"

"So," she said, exasperated. "You're Rome's friend and he's so in love with you that he's willing to be just friends if it means you won't end up like his parents."

She wasn't making any sense. At least that's what I told myself, because the alternative was her being right. Which she couldn't be. "And you got all that from an old photo?"

"That and nearly two years of being around the two of you," she said.

"Why do you care so much who I date?"

She let out a sigh, her fingers toying with her long red braids. "My family moved around a lot and I never bothered to make friends, because what was the point if we'd be gone in six months? But my parents promised we wouldn't move again until I was done with high school.

"Now I have this really amazing group of friends and it's all about to go to shit because two of them are too chicken to admit they like each other!" She let out a breath like she unloaded the heaviest weight of her life. "I want senior to be amazing and that can only happen if you and Rome aren't being all weird."

She mentioned how often her family moved before, but I didn't know it bothered her so much. And I understood not wanting our friend group to fall apart. Still...I was done waiting for Romeo.

If our group fell a part, it wasn't going to be because of me. I wasn't the one being weird and skipping lunches and movie nights. All I did was move on.